About: More than half of this nice little book is taken up with Andy Farrington’s account of a life spent as a stonecutter in Ballyknockan. The remainder of the book includes contributions from neighbours on the same topic and also looks at other aspects of Ballyknockan history.

ID number(s): None

Contents: Introduction – Growing up in Ballyknockan – My life as a stonecutter – The contributions of the quarry men to the Church — The Ballyknockan Brass & Reed Band — The next generation / John McEvoy — Giant granite stone 1890 — Neddy Cullen – Working in Osborne and Brady quarry / Jim Behan – Michael Freeman’s account of his life as a stonecutter / Michael Freeman — Turf cutting — Conclusion.

About: If this were a novel it would be a family saga. However, it is all true. The author writes about an orphanage, an adoption and a placement with a family that she seemed to belong to. She discovers in the end that her ties with them were closer than she could have imagined. The book tells the story of the Cooke Family and ranges across Scotland, Ireland, England and Australia. A second edition of this book was published in 2012.

WW Connection #1: The Cooke Family had strong connections with Baltinglass and its Post Office. Helen Cooke was the de facto Postmistress when the infamous ‘Battle of Baltinglass’ incident occurred in the early 1950s.

About: This is the autobiography of The Very Reverend Victor Gilbert Benjamin Griffin, also known as Dean Victor Griffin. He is a Church of Ireland clergyman, who after spending over 20 years ministering in Derry, was appointed Dean of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin. He held this position from 1969 to 1991 and became a well-known figure in Irish public life.

About: The autobiography of Joey Fagan, one of the personalities of Baltinglass, who was, by turns, a religious brother, barber, meter-reader, encyclopedia salesman, ventriloquist, psychiatric nurse and barber again. The author is now retired. The period covered by the book is from the early 1950’s to the early 1980’s.

ID number(s): 0907877222

Contents: Life is what you make it — Going Away — School Day — Holidays — Entering the Noviciate – Sept.’57 — Simple Profession 25 March 1958 — The Simple Professed — Holidays, June 1959 — 1960 — The Big Decision – 1961 — The Final Days in Stillorgan — Returning Home – 1961 — Looking for a Job — My Father’s Death – 21 May 1961 — A Short Back & Sides — Coping with the Outside World — The Barber with Two Voices — Wedding Bells — Television — Publicity — No Barber — Making Ends Meet — World Book – Childcraft — Psychiatric Nurse – 1979 — New Image — Keeping Busy..

About: A recent internet searcher looking for ‘book written about man from Stratford on Slaney Co Wicklow’ visited our blog. We are presuming that the book in question is this one. John Montgomery came from Stratford and, while barely 17 years old, joined a party of Irish settlers who arrived in South Africa in May 1820. His was an adventurous life and these reminiscences cover 50 years of spectacular ups and downs.

About: A collection of published and unpublished articles, essays and other writings all of which have ballet as their theme. The author was the founder of Britain’s Royal Ballet and spent over thirty years as its director.

ID number(s): 0491015984

Contents: Prologue – Introduction – [Phase I – The 1920s and the 1930s] The traveller: a pupil and her teachers — The formation of an establishment: Life at ‘the Wells’ — Lilian Baylis — Extracts from ‘Invitation to the ballet’ — A tribute to the Mercury Theatre — [Phase II – The 1940s and the 1950s] Five architects of the ballet: Constant Lambert, Frederick Ashton, Robert Helpmann, Margot Fonteyn, Sophie Fedorovitch — The Royal Charter: a memorandum — The English Ballet: a lecture to the Royal Society of Arts, 1957 — [Phase III – The 1960s and the 1970s] Gemini: two studies — John Cranko — Kenneth MacMillan — The stranger in our midst: a portrait of Nureyev — Choreography — Movements — [Impressions] A visit to Russia: 1957 — The Turkish State Ballet — Diaghilev — W. B. Yeats — What makes a dancer’s life — Epilogue — Index.

WW Connection #1: Ninette de Valois (née Edris Stannus) was born at Baltyboys, Blessington, Co.Wicklow in 1898. The family moved to England in 1905.

About: A memoir of the life of Kevin Dalton, who as a child spent fourteen years in orphanages. He had always wanted to be ordained as a Church of Ireland clergyman and book goes on to detail how that ambition came to be achieved.

About: The first memoir of a Wexford-born former Church of Ireland clergyman who no longer believes the basic doctrines of the Christian faith.

ID number(s): 1856073548

Chapters: Wexford — No.4 National school — The King’s Hospital — All work and no play… — TCD — Ordination — Belfast — St. John’s — Chicago — The Church of Ireland — Stradbally — The college and West Wicklow — Dublin again — Epilogue.

WW Connection #1: The author was one time rector of Donaghmore and Donard Parish.

About: A memoir of a Wexford-born former Church of Ireland clergyman who no longer believes the basic doctrines of the Christian faith.

ID number(s): 1856355608 / 9781856355605

Chapters: Preface — The town — Childhood — Boarding school — Vocation — University — The North — America — The Midlands — Adult education — West Wicklow — The chaplaincies — Looking on — The Church — Believe it or not — Epilogue.

WW Connection #1: The author was one time rector of Donaghmore and Donard Parish.

About: This is the autobiography of Dame Ninette de Valois, the founder of The Royal Ballet, London and one of the pre-eminent world figures of twentieth-century ballet.

ID number(s): 0946640629 / 9780946640621

Chapters: An Irish jig — The Longest way — The extended circle — Both sides of the river — The wind in the clock — One side of the market — Birthday offering — Appendix: Notes on the ancestry of Dame Ninette de Valois.

WW Connection #1: Ninette de Valois (née Edris Stannus) was born at Baltyboys, Blessington, Co.Wicklow in 1898. The family moved to England in 1905.